Ted Cruz: Shutdown Could Lead To Terrorist Attack On The U.S. (Video)

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned Wednesday that the government shutdown he worked tirelessly to create could lead to a terrorist attack on the U.S.

Cruz made his remarks to the hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, just after James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, explained that 70 percent of the intelligence community’s civilian work force has been suspended because of the shutdown.

Cruz says it’s “deeply disturbing” that President Barack Obama is “playing politics” with the shutdown’s impact on the National Security Agency.

“I don’t believe President Obama should be playing politics with this,” Cruz said. “He shouldn’t be refusing to negotiate or compromise.”

Cruz asked his fellow Republicans to pass a separate measure that would restore funding to the Defense Department.

“If, God forbid, we see an attack on the United States because the intelligence community was not adequately funded, every member of the committee would be horrified,” he said. “So I hope issues of partisan politics can be set aside and we can all come together and pass, right now by the end of the day, a continuing resolution to fully fund the Department of Defense and intelligence community.”

The GOP is currently compiling a listed of “favored” programs they want to continue funding despite the shutdown. Democrats criticized House Republicans for wanting to fund national parks, but not the cancer research at the National Institute of Health.

The White House already said that President Barack Obama would veto any such measure. The budget office called the “cake and eat it too” measure “not a serious” way to run the government.

“Consideration of appropriations bills in a piecemeal fashion is not a serious or responsible way to run the United States Government,” the White House budget office told the New York Times. “Instead of opening up a few Government functions, the House of Representatives should reopen all of the Government.”

Cruz did not mention during his testimony his part in the shutdown – the 21-hour faux-filibuster or the numerous cable TV ads he paid for asking viewers to call their senators to oppose funding Obamacare.